If you feel that spanking your kid is an effective punishment, may we assume that we can punch you in the face when you make a bad decision?

If you screw up at the office, can your boss knock the snot out of you? Is your wife allowed to take a belt to you if you don't mow the lawn? Can your husband slug you if you don't make dinner the way he likes?

I didn't think so. That simple acknowledgement shows the futility of corporal punishment in nearly every situation.

First, let's get to know me. I'm no a wimp. I've been dealing with the realities of disciplining and raising six kids for nearly 28 years. Most of my previous columns are about me addressing those problems head on. And in nearly every case, I've done it without palms, fists or sticks, by the way.

Spanking became national news back in March when the Temple school district announced that it was instituting a corporal punishment option in all schools.

They deal with a lot more stuff than I deal with, but I'd like to think it's because my kids aren't junior psychos in a holding facility. Apparently, the kids in Temple are.

I'm not blaming government or kids for that situation. I'm blaming parents.

My dad beat me once, but he had to do so because he hadn't been paying attention to what I was doing. Next month marks the 41st anniversary of that painful memory.

A 12-year-old kid should be watched like a hawk and grilled by parents on a regular basis. Stuff that doesn't pass the smell test should be investigated. Unexplained gaps in time must be explored. I know this. My late dad, however, did not.

Therefore, when faced with a cop telling him that I had broken into a neighbor's house, he listened politely, filled out some forms and then whipped the living crap out of me to make up for lost time.

This wouldn't have worked unless he went overboard. He did. He made it count. His handiwork with a belt that day would've gotten him arrested had he done it today.

It was the last time he would hit me. It was the last time I got into trouble, too, if you don't count speeding tickets. After that, my dad was always asking questions and demanding proof when necessary.

But enough about me. When your kid does something so bad that you feel a spanking in necessary, you can lay most of the blame at your own feet.

The groundwork for a kid's behavior is laid out when a child is very, very small. Teach your kids values, in word and deed, when they're too young to understand them and keep it up until they know that stuff by heart. Watch their friends and get to know those parents. If you see something you don't like, go with your gut, hit the “eject” button and be tough enough to endure the heat for being the bad guy.

That way, you won't end up justifying your past failures by assaulting your kid with a 2-by-4 today.

It's even worse when you tell teachers they have to do it. That's the same sort of cop-out that got you – and your kid – in trouble in the first place.

Plus, I don't like the fact that my property taxes are going to pay the salaries of school teachers and administrators who have to beat your kid because you did a bad job raising them.